


The Avengers Are Actually a Parents-of-Trans-Kids Support Group

by KingHippiedude (missreader)



Series: The Avengers Are Actually a Parents-of-Trans-Kids Support Group [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Gen, M/M, Trans, Trans Character, Transgender, transvengers, transvengers assemble
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-22
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-08 16:27:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3215825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missreader/pseuds/KingHippiedude
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the Transvengers Initiative prompt 25: Someone's kid is transgender. Except that I couldn't decide whose kid should be trans because they would each be interesting. All of the Avengers will eventually be involved. It also <strike>might become a series. I haven't decided yet</strike> has become a series; my stories get away from me sometimes, but I wanted to get something posted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Hey honey, how was school today?” Steve asked.

“It was fine, Dad” Rachel replied in a bland tone before slinking off to her room.

Steve had noticed a change in her recently. She seemed to be doing fine in school and had a few good friends, but she had been increasingly withdrawn the last few months. At first he wrote it off as some kind of teenage moodiness, but it wasn’t getting any better. Sam had suggested that she might be suffering from depression, and while Steve didn’t want to believe that it might be true, he also wanted his daughter to get whatever help she needed.

Steve knocked gently on his daughter’s bedroom door. A few second later he heard a quiet, “come in.”

When he entered the room, he saw Rachel hunched over on her bed, wearing a baggy sweatshirt that he recognized as Sam’s over her jeans and t-shirt. She had cut her hair over the summer, and she looked boyish with the short cut. She pulled her legs up on the bed, huggin her knees.

“Rachel, you know you can talk to me and Papa about anything, right? You will always be our daughter, and there is nothing you could do that would make us stop loving you.”

Rachel nodded, and after a moment she said, so quietly that Steve almost missed it, “What if I don’t want to be your daughter? What if I want to be your _son_?”

Steve had no idea what to say to that, but he leaned forward and embraced his ~~daughter~~ son, tears leaking from his eyes.

When he was able to formulate words again, he pulled back enough to look his child in the eyes and said, “I will always, _always_ , love you, no matter what. If you want to be my son, then you will be my son.”

They embraced again, and Steve felt a damp patch forming on his shoulder. Apparently he wasn’t the only one crying.

Steve didn’t know how long they stayed like that, but eventually they separated, and he asked, “So, do you think you can explain this to your old man?”

His son took a steadying breath and said, “Have you heard the term ‘transgender’?”

“I’ve heard of it. It means someone whose gender in their head doesn’t match their body.”

“Yeah, that’s about it. It can encompass a lot of different identities, but that’s the gist of it. I just haven’t really felt right about my body in a while. I thought it might just be general teenage body-related angst, but I’m pretty sure now that it’s not. I hate my periods, and while all my friends were wishing they had bigger boobs, I just wanted mine gone. I could probably deal with that if it weren’t for the implications in the way people perceive me and the assumptions they make. I have boobs, so I must be a girl and like pink and wear makeup and skirts. And that’s not me.”

He paused before continuing, “In one of my classes someone mentioned something about trans identities and it just clicked. I did a lot of research at the library, and I started trying out thinking about myself differently, using he/him pronouns and the name ‘Ryan’. And it felt right in a way I haven’t really in a long time.”

“Okay, Ryan, what can Papa and I do to help?”

Ryan practically attacked Steve, clinging to his dad and sobbing. “Can I get some new clothes?” he choked out.

“Of course. We can go shopping this weekend. And maybe we can get you a haircut too. It’s getting a little shaggy.”

Ryan just nodded, still clinging to Steve.

The moment was interrupted by a soft knock on the door followed by it creaking open to reveal Sam.

“Hey Rae, you alright?”

Ryan met Steve’s eyes looking unsure how to proceed, but before Steve could say anything, he took a deep breath and said, “C-could you… Could you call me Ryan?”

“Okay, Ryan, care to explain?” Sam said, clearly a little confused.

“I’m trans.”

“Oh. Alright. I guess we should start looking into doctors and what the price of hormones and surgery are. We should probably start saving now…” he trailed off as Ryan and Steve stared at him.

“One step at a time I think,” Steve said. “Let’s order some pizza for dinner.”


	2. Chapter 2

“What do we do, Sam? I don’t know how to do this. What if we mess something up?” Steve said in a panic. He and Sam were finally alone now that the kids had been put to bed.

“Hey, calm down. Take a deep breath for me…. Good. You are not going to mess this up; we are not going to mess this up. We will figure it out together. Okay? And maybe you could try finding some resources online or at the library. But mostly, just let Ryan know he’s not alone and that you still love him. I know it’s not quite the same, but that was the most important thing for me when I first came out as gay.” Sam’s response was calm and typical of the VA counselor.

“You’re right. Pass me the laptop, will you?” Steve asked.

Sam huffed a brief laugh and groaned but handed his husband the computer, stealing a kiss as he reached over. “Eager, are we?”

“Might as well get started now. I can go to the library tomorrow. I just want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to support Ryan.”

“I know.”

They sat in silence for a while, Steve typing and Sam turning the pages of his book the only sounds in the room. Then Steve spoke, “Hey, look at this Sam. It’s a group here in New York of parents of trans kids who get together and, talk I guess. Like a support group thing. I’m gonna send them an email.”

“That sounds like a good idea. And maybe Ryan could talk to these other kids too.”

“Yeah.”

***

The next morning, Steve got up early to talk to Ryan before everyone started getting ready for the day. Sam could deal with getting the twins up. They still hadn’t been told about Ryan, and Steve wasn’t quite sure how to go about it. Or what Ryan wanted to do about telling people at school. Calm down, Steve, you can’t panic right now, he thought.

When he knocked on the door, he was greeted by the groan of a teenager being woken too early, but the door creaked open a moment later.

“Hey Ryan. I just wanted to ask you a few things about what we talked about yesterday. First, do you want your Papa and me to talk to your brothers, or do you want to do it? And when?”

“Umm… I guess I should just tell them myself, maybe this afternoon, after school. But can you and Papa both be there?”

“Of course, honey. Second, what do you want to do about school? I assume you’ll talk to your friends on your own, but…”

“Yeah, Dad. I’ll figure it out later. For right now, let’s just make this a family thing. I’ve already talked to a couple of my friends, and I’ll probably talk to more soon, but I don’t want to do anything big and public till next semester at least.”

“Okay. Finally, your Papa and I got in contact with a support group for parents of trans kids, to help find resources and make sure we’re doing the best we can. And we were wondering if you wanted to come with us when we visit. There should be some other kids there around your age.”

“Yeah, Dad, yeah,” Ryan said with teary eyes. “How are you so perfect at this?”

“I’m not. Just ask your Papa. I spent quite a while last night panicking that I was going to do something wrong, and I probably will mess up a few times. I’m just human, but I will always love you, okay?”

Steve gave Ryan a brief hug and left him to get ready at that point, heading downstairs to help Sam fix breakfast and get the twins ready for school.

***

Once all the kids were out of the house, Steve and Sam both collapsed on the sofa.

“Ryan wants to talk to the twins tonight. We should probably make sure we’re stocked up on ice cream. Ice cream makes everything better, right?”

“Uh, no, but it couldn’t hurt. What about school?”

“He’s already told a couple friends and plans on telling more but doesn’t want to do anything public till next semester.”

“Okay, good. That gives us time to prepare.”

After a pause, Steve spoke again, “It’s strange calling him ‘he’ and ‘Ryan.’ We’ve known him since he was born, and he’s always been our little Rachel. It’s gonna take some time to get used to the change.”

“Yeah. Part of me is glad that he knows who he is, but a part of me is wondering if we did something wrong or if we’re going to. And I will always love Ryan, but it feels a little like we’re losing our Rachel.”

“This isn’t going to be easy, for us or for him. But we can do it. Together. We both made it through a few tours and came back relatively unharmed. This couldn’t be any worse.”

“Yeah.”

They both knew though that this was probably going to be just as bad as anything they saw in the war, made worse by the fact that this was home, this was their family. But neither of them would admit it out loud. They just soldiered on, side by side.


	3. Chapter 3

That evening, Steve herded the family into the living room to talk, armed with chocolate ice cream.

“The floor is yours,” he said to his eldest, once they were all gathered.

Steve listened as Ryan stumbled over words, trying to figure out how to tell his little brothers that they did not have a sister. He wished this could be easier, simpler. There was very little Steve could do besides show his love and support for all his children, all his sons.

“But you have boobs!” Owen cried out.

Ryan was looking increasingly uncomfortable, and Steve took a breath, planning to explain to the twins that boobs didn’t make you a girl. There was more to gender than bodies. But before he could speak, Sam took over.

“Owen, Michael, you know how most families have a dad and a mom, but you have two dads?”

“Yeah...”

“And some people don’t like that because they don’t think it’s normal, but your Dad and I love each other as much as any parents, whether they’re a mom and dad, two dads, or two moms. Some people just don’t understand it, so they think it must be bad. Well, some people have bodies that don’t match the way they see themselves, like your brother. And people say that it’s wrong because they don’t understand, but the world is complicated, and just because something isn’t the way you expected it to be doesn’t mean it’s wrong. I don’t know if you’ve really learned much biology or sex ed in school yet, but the things which define people as male and female aren’t as straightforward as they seem. And there is a difference between someone’s assigned sex and their gender identity. Usually when a baby is born, the doctor just looks at their genatalia and says, “it’s a boy” or “it’s a girl”. And then, depending on what the doctor says, babies are dressed certain ways and taught to behave certain ways and given certain expectations of life based on that little M or F on their birth certificate. There are different gender roles, and different people express their gender differently. It’s not actually as black and white as it seems at first glance. Sometimes those things don’t ‘match’ the way we expect them to. Sometimes the doctor gets it wrong. Sometimes, the person just doesn’t feel like whatever the doctor said they were. It’s called transgender. I know that was a lot of information and probably didn’t all make sense to you. But the point is that people’s bodies don’t define who and what they are. Only you have the right to define yourself. Some men have breasts, some women have penises, and that’s okay. Your brother, Ryan, is just as much a boy as you two. It’s okay not to understand, but if you are ever mean to your brother about it, you will be in more trouble than you have ever been in in your life. Okay?”

“Uhh… yeah.”

“Also, don’t talk about this with anyone. It’s Ryan’s information to share, so until he tells people, this is a family thing, Okay?” Steve chimed in.

“Yeah, Dad,” the twins said in unison, looking a little relieved at the fact that this discussion seemed to be over and was just a family thing.

Steve switched on the TV and put in a movie to give everyone some metaphorical space while they ate their ice cream. He had thought about putting in _Mulan_ because it had always been a favorite of the kids, but he figured it wasn’t necessarily the best movie to follow their discussion about gender, so he settled on _Lilo and Stitch_ , figuring the stuff about family and sticking together probably wouldn’t hurt right now.


	4. Chapter 4

The Saturday after Ryan came out to Steve and Sam, they took a shopping trip to get Ryan some men’s clothes. They left Owen and Michael with “Uncle” Bucky and headed to a nearby mall.

They chose a less popular mall at Ryan’s request to diminish the probability of running into anyone they might know.

Ryan didn’t have a binder, but he wore a compression bra which almost flattened his chest. And he put on his most masculine clothes. Steve was beginning to see their son as he saw himself.

Steve could see that Ryan was trying to calm his nerves. The twins had at least stopped insisting out loud that he was a girl, but Steve knew that they still didn’t understand and hadn’t stopped thinking of Ryan as their sister in their heads.

Once they got to the mall, Sam spoke up. “We can’t afford to spend much money today, but you can choose a few things to start revamping your wardrobe.”

Ryan took his time looking around and grabbed anything that caught his eye, picking up a few different sizes, especially with pants, to see what worked.

Steve was unspeakably grateful that there was no attendant at the fitting room to judge his son or tell him that he should be using the other room. This was New York and there were certain legal protections in place, but that didn’t mean that everyone was necessarily accepting.

Ryan paraded outfit after outfit in front of his fathers, looking more and more relaxed and comfortable in his own skin as time went on. In the end, they left the store with a few pairs of pants, a few shirts (including one dress shirt), and a package of boxer briefs. Steve considered the day a success and was fairly certain Ryan did too.

***

After they had finished shopping, Steve and Sam took Ryan to a barbershop to clean up his haircut and make it look more distinctly masculine. They had researched carefully, trying to make sure that they chose a place that was queer friendly.

They stopped for lunch on the way, getting cheap burgers and a small diner. Steve could see the way Ryan was fidgeting and looking towards the ‘restroom’ sign, and he said, “Go on, Ryan. It;s not healthy to hold it. It’ll be okay.”

Ryan got to his feet, still visibly nervous, and Sam joined in saying, “One of us can come with you if you’d like.”

“No,” Ryan replied, “I can go to the bathroom on my own. I’m fifteen years old.”

Sam and Steve waited in tense silence for Ryan to return. When he finally did, Steve saw that he was shaking a little, looking frightened and upset.

“What happened?” Steve asked.

But Ryan refused to answer, simply shaking his head and focusing all his attention on his food.

***

The haircut seemed to brighten his day considerably, though. The woman who cut Ryan’s hair was a black trans woman, and the woman working next to her was her wife. They happily chatted away and made Ryan feel more comfortable than he had been all day. When they left an hour later, Ryan had a smile on his face, and Steve was glad that the time spent researching hair salons and barbershops had paid off. The incident with the bathroom was forgotten, and the day ended on a positive note.


	5. Chapter 5

When Sam, Steve, and Ryan arrived at home, Ryan seemed a little nervous about facing his brothers. But he took a deep breath and opened the door before his fathers could say anything. Steve smiled; it seemed like a good sign that Ryan was so confident. He said, "hello," quietly and slipped through the living room into his bedroom without saying anything else.

"How did it go?" Bucky asked, glancing to where Ryan had disappeared into his room.

"Good, I think," Sam said. "We got him a handful of new things. What did you and the twins do?"

The twins, with occasional interjections from Bucky, began to chatter away about the movies they had watched and the macaroni they ate for lunch and how cool something was that they saw on TV. Steve saw Ryan out of the corner of his eye slipping out of his room and into Steve and Sam's.

A few minutes later Ryan peeked out the door before stepping out more boldly. He was wearing a pair of dark jeans with his white dress shirt and red converse shoes. And the final touch--the reason why he had gone into his fathers' room--was a bowtie. It was Sam's, though he never wore it.

"Hey, Uncle Bucky," Ryan said, "like my new clothes?"

"Of course I do. My nephew is quite the dapper gentleman apparently. When did you learn how to tie a bowtie?"

"About five minutes ago," Ryan replied with a bashful smile. "I looked up a video on youtube."

"Maybe you oughta teach your fathers how to do that; maybe then they'd get some use outta that bowtie."

They all laughed, then Bucky continued, "well, you gonna show me the rest of your stuff or what?"

"Yeah, be right back, Uncle Bucky."

Ryan disappeared for a few minutes.

Michael spoke up for the first time saying, "Why did Uncle Bucky call Rachel his nephew? He always says she's his favorite niece."

He seemed genuinely confused, so Steve wasn't angry or anything, but it was frustrating, and he thought it was probably good that Bucky was the one that responded. He said, "I called him my nephew because he is. When Ryan was born we all thought he was a girl because that's what the doctor's told us, so your dads gave him a girl name and dressed him in girl clothes. But you can't always tell if someone is a boy or girl just by looking at them. And Ryan told us that he's actually a boy, so that makes him my nephew."

"Okay. So does that mean I might not actually be a boy?"

"Not necessarily. Do you feel like a boy?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well then, you're probably a boy. Sounds like the doctor was right about you at least. But if you ever realise that doesn't feel right anymore, you come tell us okay?"

Just then Ryan stepped back out of his room in a different pair of jeans and a semi-fitted tee. It was casual and relaxed, the sort of thing he would wear to school.

The next outfit was a pair of khakis and a sky blue polo which brought out his eyes that they all joked he had inherited from Steve even though they weren’t biologically related. Sam was Ryan’s biological father, and the egg had come from a donor.

Finally, he came out wearing sweatpants and a tee-shirt, clearly done showing off and ready for a comfortable evening lounging on the couch.

Bucky stayed for dinner and chatted for quite a while after they were done, but sometime after Owen and Michael slipped away to their room, he started to say his goodbyes. Ryan stopped him just before he left with a big hug and whispered, “thank you, Uncle Bucky,” with tears in his eyes. Bucky squeezed him tight for just a moment before replying, “any time, sport. I love you.”

“Love you too,” Ryan whispered as he let go.


	6. Chapter 6

Christmas Day was exciting in the Rogers-Wilson household. With three kids, two still relatively young, there was no way it couldn’t be, really. They all got up at the crack of dawn (or earlier) and scurried into the living room, still in their festive pajamas.

Detouring to the kitchen, Sam set the oven to preheat and started the coffee pot for himself and Steve and fixed hot chocolate for the kids as they waited impatiently to start ripping into their packages. But soon enough, he had returned, bearing hot beverages.

The stockings came first, as always. For the twins, they were filled with little toys and candies, for Ryan with a mixture of practical things like socks and toys and candy like his brothers had. Sam and Steve both had stockings filled with practical things but for a few pieces of candy (though Steve was fairly certain that ‘practical’ would not be the first word to come to someone’s mind when they saw the stars-and-stripes boxers that Sam had gifted him; Sam would say the same about the socks with wings that Steve had given him).

The boxes on the floor that were addressed to the twins were filled with Legos, video games, movies, and a few more expensive items of clothing.

Ryan’s packages were more somewhat more practical, or at least more mature. He received a couple movies and CDs and a Barnes and Noble gift card, but most of his gifts were clothing. They added to the ever-growing collection of men’s clothes that were taking over his once-feminine wardrobe.

Steve and Sam only had a few presents each. They got cards from each of the kids along with new bathrobes and slippers. Steve gave Sam a gift card for a favorite but somewhat expensive restaurant near the VA, and Sam gave Steve tickets to a local gallery opening.

Sam had managed to slip away at some point to stick breakfast in the oven, and the timer went off shortly after the last package had been opened. He went to pull it out of the oven to cool a bit, and Steve disappeared upstairs to grab one last present.

“Ryan,” he said upon his return. “It looks like you’ve got another present.”

Ryan looked confused but also pleasantly surprised and took the gift from his father, carefully peeling away the wrapping paper, a habit he had picked up from Steve and which no one else in the family quite understood. When he finally pulled the lid away from the box, he stood in shock for a moment before rushing to hug Steve. Steve just smiled and wrapped his arms around his son.

“ _Thank you_ ,” Ryan whispered against his chest.

“You’re welcome. Do you want to go try it on? Breakfast won’t be ready for another fifteen or so minutes.”

Ryan pulled away, nodding, and picked up the box before rushing off to his room to try on his new binder.

***

Over the Christmas holidays, Ryan began to talk seriously about coming out publicly. He could be painfully shy at times, but he also told his fathers that being constantly misgendered was wearing on him.

So, the Sunday after Christmas, Ryan wore menswear to church. Slacks, button-down, tie, shiny dress shoes, sportcoat. At first no one paid him much heed. But then Steve saw all the double-takes as people passed them in the hallways, likely wondering who the young man with them was or where Rachel was. Or perhaps wondering why Rachel was dressed like a man.

It was the first time he had worn men’s clothing in public, and Ryan seemed nervous. But they knew that he had plenty of friends in his Sunday School class who already knew. And young people tended to be more accepting anyways. Certainly less likely to pull the catty sort of behavior Sam and Steve were forced to deal with from their parents. Gossip spread like wildfire, and by the time they got to their class, people were whispering about Ryan’s appearance.

“ _I knew she was a lesbian_ ,” one of the women, an infrequent member, said, “ _just like her faggot fathers_.”

“That is absolutely unacceptable, Margaret,” another woman, Carolyn, a friend of Sam and Steve’s, spoke up before either of them had the chance. “You’ve never had a problem with Sam and Steve before now. We all say ‘open hearts, open minds, open doors’ and claim all are welcome. But we don’t always act like it. Maybe it’s time to start. You’re always welcome here, Margaret, but if you don’t change your attitude you’ll probably find yourself short a few friends.” Then turning to Sam and Steve, “Sorry about that, fellas. How’re Rachel and the twins doin’?”

And so, having received Ryan’s permission that morning, they began to talk to the group about their son coming out to them and the changes their family was going through. Margaret’s expression left no doubts as to her opinion, but most of the class was supportive, if not quite understanding.

***

Steve and Sam had tried to contact Ryan’s school to discuss Ryan’s coming out as trans, but of course the school was closed for the holidays until the day before school was back in session, so there was no one in the office to answer their calls. While they were grateful that they lived in New York and there were certain legal protections in place for trans individuals that weren’t there in other places, they knew that the world could be a cruel place and laws didn’t always translate into reality. Teachers needed to be informed of his name and pronoun change and be asked to be on the lookout for negative reactions from students.

And despite the hours spent on the phone the day before school started back in January, Ryan came home from school crying. He had apparently been pulled out of class and called to the principal’s office while all the administrative staff debated whether or not he should be allowed to use the men’s restrooms. Eventually he was told that ‘for his own safety’ he would be required to use the one single stall restroom near the entrance, which in practice meant that he couldn’t really go to the bathroom at all because it was so out of the way. And everything was still listed with only his legal name, because it was apparently against school policy to include ‘nicknames’ on any paperwork, official documents, or rosters. So, Ryan spent most of his first day back at school sitting in the office rather than in class and had to spend his lunch period checking in with his teachers rather than his friends. He was misgendered over and over, and Steve thought it was no wonder he had come home crying.

Steve made a grab for the phone, intending to yell at the school until they righted every wrong that existed in the world, but Sam beat him to it and was far more polite than Steve would have been. Sam reminded the school that New York law allows people to use whichever restroom most closely matches their gender identity, so they couldn’t actually stop Ryan from using whatever bathroom he wanted, even if it was ‘for his own protection’.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter (and anything posted after it tonight) is still rough and may be edited or added to in the future. I'm just trying to post everything I wrote for the Transvengers Initiative before the end of the year.

The first time they went to one of the parents-of-trans-kids support group meetings, Steve had no idea what to expect. The meeting was held in Stark Tower for privacy’s sake, but that also meant it was a rather intimidating trip.

The floor the elevator dropped them on couldn’t have been less intimidating though. It was clearly part of Tony Stark’s residence, one of the lower floors of his penthouse apartment. The floor was a mixture of dark hardwood and carpeting, and the furniture looked well-worn and inviting. Steve didn’t know what he had been expecting, but it wasn’t this.

“Hello,” a voice greeted them. “You must be Steve and Sam… and Ryan, of course,” he finished. The man, now visible around the corner, was _Tony Stark_ himself.

Steve just stuttered in response as Sam stepped forward to offer a hand. “Sam Wilson. Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Stark.”

“Pleasure’s all mine,” he replied, and gesturing to the rest of the adults, seated on the circled couches and chairs, continued, “take a seat, we’ll continue the introductions in a minute. We’re waiting for one more family.” Then Tony disappeared again to who-knows-where.

As Ryan went to join a cluster of teens in one corner and Sam and Steve moved to join the others, one of the men introduced himself. “Bruce Banner. It’s nice to meet you.”

“And I’m Betty,” the woman beside him said. “And the ones with the wild-colored hair are our kids, Phoenix and Grayson.”

Sam and Steve shook their hands and were quickly accosted by more parents wishing to introduce themselves.

“I am Thor,” a tall blonde man boomed.

“Sorry for my husband’s lack of volume control. I’m Jane. Ours is the blonde one. Astrid’s one of four, but the others are at home tonight.”

“Natalia,” the last woman said simply.

“It’s a pleasure, ma’am,” Steve replied, taking a seat near her as the elevator opened again, admitting two men and an androgynous preteen.

The kid went to join the others, though most of them looked a good five years older. But they welcomed the preteen amiably enough. Clearly they all knew each other well.

The two men introduced themselves as Phil and Clint and sat to the other side of Natalia. And Tony Stark reappeared at that moment, bearing snacks, and the meeting seemed to have officially commenced.

The collection of snacks that Tony laid out seemed rather eclectic, but apparently they were normal for this group, because no one seemed surprised and they all dug in heartily. The offerings included pickles (which seemed to be the only thing Thor ate), mini burgers (which Sam discovered upon tasting were quinoa-based veggie patties with goat cheese), prawn cocktail flavored potato chips that appeared to have been shipped from the UK, and chocolate chip cookies, among other things.

The group was just as eclectic. Tony Stark, of course, was a billionaire celebrity and engineer, and his son had been out as trans since he was a young child. Bruce and Betty Banner were scientific researchers of some kind (Steve didn’t have anywhere near enough scientific knowledge to understand what they were talking about), and the older of their children identified as genderfluid and used xe pronouns. (Steve had to ask about that because it wasn’t something he had come across in his research. They were constructed gender-neutral third-person singular pronouns.) Jane Odinson was also a scientist, an astrophysicist, and her Norwegian husband seemed to just be a stay-at-home father but was related to some European nobility (Steve wasn’t quite clear on the details and didn’t want to ask). One of their younger children identified as genderqueer and used they/them pronouns, insisting that ‘they’ _could_ be used as a singular pronoun. Clint and Phil worked for a security firm and had apparently had an office romance that led to their eventual marriage. They had adopted a ten year old who was in the process of working out their gender identity. And Natalia was a single mother who worked at the same security firm as Clint and Phil and whose daughter had come out as trans just over a year ago.


End file.
